Don Armitage, Miniota, MB

Chaff is a very underutilized resource on most mixed farms. It makes decent feed for cows and can be mixed with silage in formulating a backgrounding ration for stockers. There are different systems for collecting it. We use the McLeod Harvest system which results in the chaff ending up in one big pile in our cow wintering yard. We let the cows feed directly from the pile and control their access with an electric wire. A big plug-in fencer is necessary as the cows are somewhat insulated from the ground in the wintertime.

The harvesting unit collects the graff (grain and chaff) in the field.

A truck with a silage gate is used to haul the graff to the stationary thresher where the

The crops that we have the most experience with are hard red spring wheat, field peas, canola and flax. Wheat produces the most chaff followed by canola, flax and peas. With peas, it is close to a 50:50 ratio of grain to chaff. Pea chaff is the most palatable followed by flax, wheat and canola in that order. With average yields, we end up with an average of about 600 lb of chaff per acre. The yield of chaff appears to vary with the time of day or type of day. In hot dry conditions the yield appears to be greater but that is because there is more short pieces of straw mixed in with it. If you have to harvest tough grain, the chaff will also be tough. It can be prevented from heating by applying anhydrous ammonia to it.

The feed value varies widely from year to year so it is important to have it analyzed every year. We balance our rations with the Cowbytes Software program from Alberta Agriculture. Normally we supplement with rolled barley, vitamin A and 3:1 mineral. The amount of barley is gradually increased as the cows get closer to calving. Protein supplement may be necessary but often the protein level in the chaff is adequate.

The amount of supplement can be minimized by having your cows calve in late spring and having them in the middle part of pregnancy during the coldest months. A 1300 lb cow will require about 32.5 lb of dry matter intake per day. If 4 lb of this are contributed by barley, then she will eat approximately 28.5 lb of chaff per day or 5130 lb over a 180 day feeding season. 8.5 acres of average crop will produce enough chaff to feed a 1300 cow for 6 months. This is a fairly economical way to winter your cows.